I’ve grown accustomed to off-roading when it comes to running, but with a recent move from West Los Angeles to the outskirts of Downtown Los Angeles, I’ve found myself at a loss of being able to haul myself over to the beach or the mountains to get some serious nature in… at least that’s what I thought till I found out about the LA River Bike Path.

The LA River begins in the San Gabriel Valley and stretches south all the way down to the Long Beach area. The path along the River is over 40 miles wide and has been recently repaved in various parts.

I’m not going to lie, this place is a concrete jungle to say the least. The river is encased in cement, you will find flocks of seagulls, maybe ducks, a lone tire (or two) and pure Rocky moments out on the road. Who needs dirt and sand when you can do an urban trail run? Run along the cement walls of the path, climb down to run by the river, run under overpasses and train bridges and hum some Red Hot Chili Peppers lyrics to yourself.

Here is a full bike path map for all of Los Angeles county (with the river included). Depending on which part of LA you are in you can enter various points along the river. I fancy the LARIO (Los Angeles/Rio Hondo) portion of the trail but intend to hit up the portion by Griffith Park soon.

I like to use these paths for medium to long (8-13 mile) runs due to the lack of stop lights which may impede my flow to keep on going.

If you’d like a good sound track for an 8-13 miler South LA River, run I’d suggest checking out this mix by local Los Angeles Tech House DJ and fellow runner DJ Domas, host of Digitally Imported Tech House Channel it’s a 2 hour podcast that *screams* South LA (you’ll believe me when you hear it). You can also hear it live on the web before downloading here.

Next time you’re in the North East area of the river see if you can pinpoint some of the Graffiti River Artists featured in this YouTube video: